Ahhh Winter, I have fully surrendered to you by now with this recipe. This is an unashamed Winter Warmer recipe designed to make you less resentful of the cold weather by helping you embrace it.
It’s a sweet caramelly version of a bread and butter pudding, the milky caramel soaking into the croissants on the bottom side leaving the topping lovely and crunchy with sugar. Nigella suggests that this feeds 2 greedy people. I’d say that for dessert this would feed 4 greedy people but perhaps she means as a main. If anyone would suggest eating this as a main, it’s Nigella. Which is why of course we love her.
Caramel Croissant Pudding
Serves 2 greedy people
- 2 stale croissants (I used 3 fresh croissants)
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 x 15ml tbsp water
- 125ml double cream
- 125ml full-fat milk
- 2 x 15ml tbsp bourbon (I used scotch)
- 2 eggs, beaten
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
2. Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a small gratin dish; I use a cast iron oval one with a capacity of about 500ml.
3. Put the caster sugar and water into a saucepan, and swirl around to help dissolve the sugar before putting the saucepan on the hob over a medium to high heat.
4. Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away, without stirring, until it all turns a deep amber colour; this will take 3 to 5 minutes. Keep looking but don’t be too timid.
5 Turn the heat down to low and add the cream – ignoring all spluttering – and, whisking away, the milk and bourbon. Any solid toffee that forms in the pan will dissolve easily if you keep whisking over a low heat (there was a large lump of toffee which took about 5-8 minutes to whisk and dissolve away). Take off the heat and, still whisking, add the beaten eggs. Pour the caramel bourbon custard over the croissants and leave to steep for 10 minutes if the croissants are very stale (as my croissants were fresh, I skipped the steeping).
6 Place in the oven for 20 minutes and prepare to swoon.
Recipes by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express
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18 Comments | Add your own
Good god that looks HEAVENLY!!! And so easy too. I am totally going to make this
What a good excuse to bring stale croissants to life. That’s assuming they’d ever have a chance to get stale at my place
Hehe..I noticed yours were fresh 
This looks richly sinful. Would you suggest cream or icecream with this at all? How about a limoncello sorbet to cut through the richness.. or would I be way off the mark?
I wonder what this would be like cold?
Are you into savoury croissants at all.. or would you prefer sweet? I have a soft spot for creme patissiere filling and those toasted flaked almonds.. but I often find this combo at Asian bakeries strangely enough. :-/
Med school has turned me into a hypochondriac incapable of enjoying sweets without apologising profusely to my heart…
Ahahaha who am I kidding? Life is too short to count every calorie, I’m making this tonight. It looks absolutely wonderful, NQN– as usual.
Hi Esz-Thanks! It is really good and just the thing to have baking in the oven with this weather
Do let me know what you think of it!
Hi Maria-I have a thing where I don’t like anything to go off. I am religious in my rotation of items and checking expiry dates (borne from having a mother who had things 10 tears expired in her fridge). So the idea of actually letting something so stale is against my thinking
I think ice cream or heavy cream would go wonderfully with it. I am not sure on Limoncello sorbet as it may be a bit too tangy for it but you never know, creamy and tang can be a good combination (think Splice ice creams!).
Unfortunately this got polished off in one go so I’m not sure what it would be like cold
I am an equal opportunity croissant eater -savoury as in ham and cheese is divine as long as it’s hot and fresh and sweet as in the almond with the flaked almonds on top you’ve described is heavenly too. I am a true croissant freak!
Hi M-I know what you mean, knowing the ingredients to something can lead you to rethink how good it is for you but the smell of this is so good one is incapable of resisting! Apologies to the heart later
Thanks so much!
funnily enough, I was thinking of making a croissant pudding.. a chocolate one.. but since this one looks so good, i think i might make this instead!
i made your plum and pear crumble last week and it was yummm! thanks!
love your blog
Hi Lisa-That’s a great idea, some chocolate would create a really delicious variation on it!
So glad to hear that you liked the Plum and Pear crumble, thanks so much!
How decadent is this! Yikes the calories! I bet every bite is worth every one
Hi LisaRene – LOL I know, calories are best not thought of in this instance, not even afterwards as it’s quite moreish
I saw this recipe on you tube the other day and almost drooled over my laptop, for heaven’s sakes…
your version looks absolutely perfect, Lorraine!
How gloriously golden that looks. I’m not a croissant eater,.. except when in Paris…
Nice touch with the inclusion of Bourbon. Gotta love Nigella for that
Hi Patricia-Thanks so much! It was so easy, so almost impossible to screw up
Hi Y-It was very golden and good. Nigella does love a splash of the old tipple!
WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!
yum yum yum yum yum yum yumy!
xxoo
I saw the program when it was aired and thought that the desert looked yummy.
Tried it today and boy everybody thought it was.
Thank you for sharing
Maria
Hi Kaitlyn- Hehe thanks so much!
Hi Marysia-Thanks so much, I saw the recent episode of Nigella Express with this and it made me want to make it all over again!
I just watched Nigella’s show last Sat. and she prepared this. I’m glad to have found the recipe, thanks a lot!
In her show this is meant to be eaten after a night out… as to have something to look forward to when coming home? LOL Anyway, croissants are on my emeregency grocery list
if you heat the cream and milk before whisking it into the caramel then add the bourbon at the last second you’ll completely avoid the “freezing up” of the caramel. it also helps risking cooking the bourbon flavour out and ruining your caramel completely. looks really yummy but!
Oh wauw,that looks like old Amsterdam pies! beautiful! love those!
Looks delicious! I also found it on Nigellas site and was instantly tuned in. To check out my version with hot vanilla custard and caramlized bananas check out http://the-amateur-foodie.blogspot.com/
Cheers!
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